The Lord of Castle Oblivion
by LadyLannister97
Summary: Sequel to Keys To The Hearts. Led by an unknown figure, Sora and Co traverse through the mysterious Castle Oblivion as they slowly lose their memories. Meanwhile in the basement floors of the castle, Sarina joins Riku as he struggles through the path of redemption.
1. Sora and May I

Author's Note: Chain of Memories was the first KH game I ever played so, and even if the combat system is...flawed, I would never have gotten into the series and fell in love with it.

This won't be long as Adventure because I'm only putting in worlds that are relevant to the game's plot and are not simply recycling KH1 in regards to Sora's storyline. It would be like writing the same chapters over and over again. And also Riku's storyline would be occurring at the same time as Sora's instead of after like in the games.

I hope you enjoy!

* * *

 _The group was walking along a random pathway somewhere._

" _Where do we go now?" May asked._

" _I dunno," Sora replied, walking with his hands behind his head, "Wherever the roads lead us."_

 _Sarina sang a song from one of her favorite books._

" _Roads go ever ever on,_

 _Over rock and under tree,_

 _By caves where never sun has shone,_

 _By streams that never find the sea;_

 _Over snow by winter sown,_

 _And through the merry flowers of June,_

 _Over grass and over stone,_

 _And under mountains in the moon," She sang softly to her herself as they walked._

" _Sing louder, Rini. We need some entertainment wherever we're going," May encouraged._

 _Sarina blushed deeply and stopped singing._

" _But what about Riku and the King," Donald asked glumly._

" _We gotta find them," Sora responded casually._

" _But, uh, where do we start lookin' for that there door to the light?" Goofy also asked, confused._

 _Everyone stopped and dramatically sighed._

 _They were already lost._

" _Huh?" Sora asked as he heard footsteps._

 _Pluto walked in front of them with the happiest smile. When he saw Donald and Goofy, he wagged his tail eagerly as his master's best friends._

" _Pluto?" Donald asked, wondering where the hell has the dog been this entire time._

" _Hey Pluto," Goofy greeted, "Where have you been?"_

 _Pluto said nothing as he had a letter in his mouth._

 _It was sealed with the stamp of King Mickey._

" _Hey, have you seen King Mickey?" Sora asked, kneeling to the dog's height._

 _Pluto said nothing. He just simply ran off._

 _Goofy and Donald looked at each other, wondering if the dog was leading them to King Mickey._

" _Come on guys, let's go!" Sora said excitedly. He ran off after Pluto._

" _Well, there's nothing else to do," May shrugged before following him._

 _They ran off to a whole new adventure._

* * *

Sora, a boy of fourteen, woke up in the middle of the night. Having a sudden urge to walk through the fields, he looked at his friends to make sure they were all asleep. Donald, the court wizard, and Goofy, Captain of the Royal Knights, were sleeping on top of each other, with Goofy snoring loud as usual. May, a dark-skinned girl who was the Princess of Heart of Earth, lay flat on the ground with Sarina, her younger and brown-skinned twin sister, hooked underneath her arm. Both fourteen were as well, they joined him and the two royal knights when their own world was overtaken by the Heartless. While their world was restored, they had no other options but to stay with Sora.

' _I hope Pluto's leading us to Riku and the King,'_ the spiky-haired brunette thought to himself as he walked down the seemingly endless pathway. They lost track of Pluto, but he didn't worry as Pluto always seemed to appear out of nowhere when it was convenient.

"Along the road ahead lies something you need," a soft, yet masculine voice said, and Sora turned sharply around to see a figure cloaked in black in front of him. "However, in order to claim it, you must lose something that is dear to you."

He disappeared before Sora could run up to him. ' _Who are you and what do you mean by that?'_

Sora ran back to his sleeping friends and promptly shook May. "May! May! Wake up!"

"What the hell, Sora?" The ebony skinned girl replied groggily as she stirred awake.

"May, someone just appeared to me! We all have to wake up now!"

"Huh?"

* * *

Inside the white walls of a room, pale hands drew a castle of odd proportions and colors inside a sketchpad.

She observed her artwork before placing it on a white table.

* * *

"That is the weirdest castle I have ever seen in my life," May remarked as she and Sora walked up to the castle. Although Sora didn't have his keyblade, Kingdom Key, out, she did because after finding out that she was a Princess of Heart of Earth and being kidnapped for it, May wanted to have a weapon on her at all times. She may not been an immediate target like Cinderella, Snow White, or Kairi were, but she still had a target on her back. Sunlight was the name of her keyblade, and the tip was shaped into the sun,the teeth was made up of sun rays, the body was sky blue, and the handle was orange with a sun shaped chain.

The castle was small and brown with teal roofs, and it was...uncomfortable to look at. Roofs and windows were twisted all over the place, and several areas were upside down on flat surfaces.

May had a strange feeling about this place. It felt somewhat familiar to her though she couldn't fathom why. ' _Maybe I saw it in a nightmare or something?'_

Donald, Goofy, and Sarina caught up to them, and Donald and Goofy began to argue over whether or not it was a good idea to enter the castle.

"Where else are we going to go? Look, I don't know about you guys but I'm tired of walking on a road to nowhere," May reasoned. Sarina stood back behind her with her arms folded. She too, felt a peculiar connection to the castle.

Sora was the one who made the first move. Brushing past Donald and Goofy, he walked right up to the castle entrance and one of the doors opened right up as if it was waiting for them.

' _Okay, this is freaky and I don't like this,'_ May thought to herself as she followed Sora into the castle and pushed the other door open.

* * *

The Entrance Hall was all white from the floor, to the pillars, to the small statues, to the giant white door on the other side of the room, except for the neon blue lining that traced the floors. It was eerily quiet and May already wanted to leave the castle and walk on the endless road again.

"Hey, ya think it's okay for us to barge in?" Goofy asked in a nervous voice as everybody looked around. Donald looked at his friend.

"But we gotta do it, if we're gonna find the King-"

"The King? King Mickey's here?" Goofy replied in shock as he looked around wildly.

"Something just told me he'd be here, ok?" Donald assured with his arms folded.

"Really? 'Cause now that ya mention it, I was kinda thinking the same thing."

"Seriously? Me too! One look at this castle, and I knew," Sora added cheerfully. He put his hand over his heart. "Our very best friends-they're here."

"Hyuck! I guess great minds think alike!"

" _And something tells me that there is a lot of darkness in here,"_ May thought to herself, not wanting to kill the excitement. It was probably do to her abilities as a princess, but she could feel darkness radiating off the walls along with a sense of...emptiness.

"Wait, hey, hold on!" Jiminy Cricket said as he hopped out of Sora's hoodie. "It can't be just a coincidence!"

"Oh no, Jiminy. You don't mean that-"

"Yep. I had it too. Mm-hmm! I had the exact same feeling."

Everybody looked at the twins.

"I have a feeling our friends are here too," May admitted while Sarina simply nodded in agreement. The younger twin hardly ever spoke as she didn't think her voice mattered as much as her twin's. To May, her statement wasn't a lie, because she did have a feeling Riku and the King were here. It was just that she also sensed bad vibes in here. Very bad vibes.

"Gawrsh, maybe it's just contagious," Goofy said.

"No, no. Something's screwy. We gotta go take a look," Donald barked.

"Alrighty then, let's go," May said as she, Sarina, and Sora took a couple steps forward.

"Wak! Where are you two going?" Donald asked nervously. Sora and May looked at Donald as if he was crazy.

"That way," Sora replied as he pointed to the door, "To the door. Are ya scared?" He finished as he and May sported teasing grins. The court wizard growled. "Aw, don't be ridiculous! Come on, let's go, Goofy!"

"Hey guys, shouldn't we shut the door behind us before we go?" Goofy said. He turned around to shut the front door. "Kids!"

The rest of the party turned to face the same cloaked figure that Sora saw earlier. The door behind the figure closed slowly.

Sora had enough. "That's it! Who are you?" He demanded as he summoned Kingdom Key, and took a battle stance. May gripped her keyblade cautiously as she observed the figure. He was unarmed, but who knows what power he held?

Donald was the first one to attack...or at least try to.

"Wak! Heartless! Oh yeah? I'll try some magic! THUNDER!" He called out as he waved his staff.

Nothing happened.

"Come on...Thunder!" Donald called out again.

Again, nothing happened.

As the rest of the group looked at Donald with worrying glances, the court wizard began to get agitated. "THUNDER! THUNDER! THUNDER! THUNDER! THUNDER!"

All attempts were futile as not a single bolt came forth.

Donald looked at his staff in great confusion. Perhaps a different spell would work? "Come on...Blizzard!"

It didn't work.

"FIRE?"

His staff didn't even heat up.

The figure walked towards the group and May felt sirens ringing in her head in alarm.

"Why isn't it working?" The court wizard wailed as he hung his head in shame.

"I should think it's obvious," the figure finally spoke, "The moment you set foot in this castle, you forgot every spell and ability you ever knew. In this place, to find is to lose, and to lose is to find. That is the way in Castle Oblivion."

' _Castle Oblivion? Now I know we are not in a nice place,"_ May thought to herself in alarm.

"...Castle Oblivion?" Sora replied in confusion. That name didn't sound good at all.

The cloaked figure disappeared in black tendrils, only to reappear right in front of the three teens.

"Here you will meet people that you known in the past. And you will meet people that you miss," he directed the last statement to Sora.

"I miss?" The brunette asked in confusion. "Riku! You mean Riku's here?"

"If what you want, is to find him…"

The figure held out his hand, and a burst of cherry blossom petals combined with a strong current of wind swept through the room, and especially through Sora, May, and Sarina. The figure went through Sora, causing the brunette to step back. Sora quickly turned around and tried to slice through the figure, only for him to disappear in cherry blossom petals.

' _Who is this guy?'_ Sora thought, frustrated that he couldn't land a hit.

The figure appeared on top of the steps.

"What'd you do?" Sora said.

"I merely sampled your memories," he replied, "And from them, I made this." He pulled out a blue card with a world on it.

"To reunite with those you hold dear-," he tossed the card to Sora, who caught it with ease.

"You want us to play with cards? What is this, Yugioh?" May asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It is a promise for the reunion you seek," the figure answered while gesturing to the door behind him, "Hold the card to open the door. And beyond it, a new world. Proceed, Sora, Princess."

"How do you know my title?" May asked in shock, "And I have a twin right here, you know!"

The figure ignored her question as he continued. "To lose and claim anew, or to claim anew only to lose…"

He disappeared in darkness.

May rubbed her fingers into her head in a combination of worry of and irritation. "Why do I have a feeling that we have giant targets on our backs and that this is all a damn setup?"

"We have no choice but to go on, May! Riku could be here!" Sora argued.

"Or maybe that cloaked weirdo told you that so he could set you up! Why does he know our names? How does he know I am a Princess of Heart? Why does he want use our memories to create that card right there?" May shot back. She knew how narrow-minded and determined Sora could be when it came to his friends, but she wanted him to think hard about what he was about to do.

"May, please! I don't trust him either but this might be the way towards Riku and the King!" Sora took her hand and squeezed her gently. He gave her a pleading look. "Please."

Looking in his bright blue eyes, May sighed. Sora's eyes were a weakness of hers, so of course he used that to his advantage. ' _Damn that boy and his pretty eyes!'_

"You win, Babyface. We'll go through this stupid castle, but if things get too screwy, we're leaving," May relented, using her nickname for Sora.

Sora smiled. "Fine with me, Princess."

May snorted.

"You two fight like an old married couple," Donald commented as he rolled his eyes. May and Sora stuck their tongues out at him in response.

Sora walked up the steps and held out the world card the figure gave him. The door opened widely and bright light greeted them from the other side.

"Let's go," he ordered.

The world they entered was not new at all. In fact, it was the very first world they ended up on.

"Traverse Town?" Sarina finally spoke as she looked around. The world was exactly like she remembered when she first landed in there and in subsequent visits , and it appeared they were in the First District.

"This can't be right," Sora said in confusion.

"And it begins," May muttered to herself.

"What you see isn't real," the figure spoke as he appeared. He disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the district. "This town is an illusion created by your memories in that card."

"Our memories? How?" May questioned.

Jiminy hopped out of Sora's hoodie and landed on the brick paving. "Forget about that! We lost Donald and Goofy!"

"Huh? Donald? Goofy?" Sora replied as he looked around wildly for their two friends. "Guys, where are you?"

"What did you do with them?" Sora demanded of the figure.

"They are at the mercy of the cards now. Master the cards, and their strength will be yours again," the figure answered.

"So that's the catch, huh?" May replied casually as she summoned Sunlight. "Square up, douchebag." Sarina held her arm out to block her twin from doing something rash.

The figure continued to speak.

"The laws of this castle require that your friends be transformed into cards. If you value your friends, you won't fail to pick them up. Cards you pick up are added to the top of your stack. Use them, and your friends will come to your aid. The cards you use will vanish, but they will reappear to aid you time and time again. Cards are the hearts of your friends. Everything in this castle is used by cards, whether an enemy or a door confronts you, cards are the only way to proceed."

Two cards floated down from the night sky, and Donald and Goofy materialized from them in white flashes.

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora called as he and Sarina ran up to them. May stayed and fixed the figure with the hardest glare possible.

"What happened to the two of you?" Sora questioned them.

"You tell us! When you open the door, we saw a strange light, and the rest is just...blank," Donald answered.

"Gee, that doesn't help," Jiminy commented, "Try to remember what happened! I have to keep my journal up to date!"

"Hey, Donald, where'd I get the new clothes?" Goofy asked he inspected his new clothes that came out of nowhere.

"Wak! Me too!" Donald said as he noticed that he too had on a new outfit adorned with belts and zippers. "Somebody's been messing with our clothes!"

' _But that's the same outfits they have been wearing the entire time! They only switched them out for regular clothes at the end of our journey!'_ Sarina thought to herself. ' _How could they forget that?'_

"Could it be the cards again?" Sora asked the figure.

"That is for you to ponder," the figure replied cryptically. "Master the cards and make your way through the castle. But from here, you walk alone."

"Alone!? We can't let the kids go alone!" Goofy argued.

"Yeah, those kids can't do anything without our help!" Donald added.

"HEY!" Sora and May shouted at the same time, while Sarina stayed silent with a frown. Even if they were talking animals from cartoons, Donald and Goofy were technically the only adults and authority figures in the group, and to lose that comfort felt like a slap in the face to her.

"You sure, you'll be okay?" Goofy asked the teenagers.

"Of course!" Sora replied. He turned towards the figure. "You want us to go alone? Fine. We can take care of ourselves."

' _This is definitely a trap of some kind. But what is this guy planning?'_ May thought to herself suspiciously. First, they lose all their abilities, and now Donald and Goofy were isolated from them? ' _That leaves us, the three keyblade wielders..._ _ **wait**_ _.'_

Something clicked in May's mind but she wasn't ready to voice it until she had enough proof to convince Sora.

"Hmph, the boy speaks boldly. Go then, the rest of Castle Oblivion awaits. Walk down the avenues of latent memory, and you shall meet someone dear to you," the figure said as he disappeared.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Jiminy commented.

"You're not the only one," May added, with a fixed look at Sora.

"Relax, guys. I'm ready for any tricks he got up his sleeve and you guys should too," the brunette said. "How hard can it be to figure out how to use these cards? All we have to do is use one in front of that door right there. Come on guys," he said while gesturing to a door on the other side of the district. A deep blue card lined with gold appeared in his hands. It had a key on the front while "Key of Beginnings" was printed at the bottom. Then, an entire deck of room cards appeared, some green, some red.

As the group walked up to the door, Sora held up the Key of Beginnings card so it can open the door.

Instead of opening the door, the door instead glowed red.

"Perhaps, we need to use one of the red cards?" May suggested.

"Okay…," Sora said as he reached down into his pockets and held up the first red card in his stack. It featured a large swarm of Shadow heartless on the card. "Teeming Darkness", the card read.

"Let's see if this card works. This can't be that hard!"

* * *

"Let's not ever use that card ever again unless we have to," May said while glaring at Sora. The brunette grinned sheepishly while rubbing the back of his spiky hair. "I didn't know it was going to be that many heartless! Traveling by ourselves isn't as easy as I thought it would be."

"There were like fifty Shadows on the card alone."

"Hey! I didn't see you protesting!"

Two blue cards fell from the sky and suddenly, Donald and Goofy appeared again.

May and Sora shrieked as they held onto each other in fright.

"Ack! Don't scare us like that!" May rebuked. Then she and Sora looked at each other, and quickly the both of them split apart. They looked in separate directions awkwardly.

"Hey, it's not our fault! We don't know what's going on!" Donald replied.

"Gawrsh, Sora and May, your fighting has gotten kind of rusty. You sure you don't need our help?" Goofy asked in concern.

"We're fine, honestly," Sora boasted, though deep down he was not sure.

May pondered what Goofy said for a moment.

When she fought, she oddly had forgotten how to wield a keyblade properly. And her favorite spell, Aero, did not work at all.

"Ayuck!" Goofy shouted as he pointed to something behind the teenagers.

It was Pluto, who wagged his tongue happily. Sarina walked over to the dog, bent down, and rubbed his neck affectionately, leaving the dog to bark happily in response.

"Things keep getting stranger. What's Pluto doing here?" Donald asked.

"There's nothing strange about that. We came to Traverse Town with Pluto, didn't we?" Goofy replied.

"Did we?" Donald asked in mild confusion. He remembered he and Goofy landing in the world, but he didn't remember Pluto. Then again, his memories of Traverse Town were getting kind of foggy…

Jiminy hopped out of Sora's hoodie again. "No wait! According to my journal, it was before you met the kids that you came to town with Pluto!"

Donald suddenly remembered. "Wak! You're right! We were chasing after Pluto, and that's how we ended up in Castle Oblivion!"

"But aren't we in Traverse Town?" Goofy asked.

"Well, it's not really Traverse Town. I think the card created this town inside Castle Oblivion," Jiminy explained.

"Aaghh! Who cares about all of that? It's all confusing!" Sora said.

"Is it confusing or you're just dumb?" May said with a teasing grin.

"Shut up! I don't know where we are, but let's just keep moving forward and defeating Heartless! We'll get somewhere!"

"And by 'we', you mean you, me, and Sarina because Donald and Goofy are just going to turn into cards again! And where is somewhere?"

"Arguing like that, you'll be heartless fodder," said a voice.

A man with long brown hair, blue eyes, and a scar on his forehead, walked up to them. He was dressed in a black vest, a white undershirt, black pants, black gloves, and black shoes. Brown belts adorned his entire outfit.

"Leon?" May asked, raising an eyebrow. The young man in front of them was Squall Leonhart, "Leon" for short, who they met in Traverse Town along with Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid. They worked to make Traverse Town a safe world for refugees who wanted to escape their fallen worlds, and they fought the Heartless.

"What are you doing in Castle Oblivion?" Sora added. ' _Is this what that guy meant by meeting someone dear to you?'_

Leon looked at Sora, confused. "Castle Oblivion? What are you talking about? This is Traverse Town. And how do you know my name? Who are you?"

"Um, the hell you mean 'who are you?' You don't know us? We just saw you like a week ago, Leon!" May replied, shocked while Sora's jaw dropped.

"I've never seen any of you in my life," Leon said with the frown.

"What? Really, huh?" May replied incredulously. " _We weren't gone for that long!"_

"Quit playing, Leon! We all fought the Heartless together! You know that!" Sora shouted. ' _How does Leon not know us? Why doesn't he know us?'_

Leon shook his head. "Look, I don't know what either of you are talking about. I don't even know your names."

Sora and May looked at each other in horror.

"You...don't?" Sora said.

"...Not even the tiniest idea?" May added with widened eyes. ' _What even is this castle? Is this really Leon?'_

"Sorry," the taller brunette apologized in a flat tone as he turned his back to them.

"I can't believe this. How can you have forgotten about us?" Sora argued.

"Yeah, we visited Traverse Town like six times, bro!" May commented.

"I feel you, but you've got the wrong guy. Happens all the time. Don't take it so personally, Sora, May," Leon replied.

"Bro we just saw-Wait, did you just say our names?" May asked.

"You DO know their names!" Donald said as he pointed an accusing finger at the man.

"Now,now hold on! Why do I know your names?" Leon said.

"Because we've met before, plenty of times in fact. You were the first person Sora encountered and had an actual conversation with. You taught him how to fight Heartless, you led us to Merlin, and you explained to us as to what happened to our worlds. Do you have amnesia, Leon? Did one of those Heartless smack your head too hard?" May explained.

"I'm telling you, you got the wrong guy," Leon asserted.

"You think Leon's just kidding around?" Goofy whispered.

"If he is, it's not funny. Those kids are really upset," Donald whispered back.

"He wouldn't act so genuine in his confusion if he was joking," Sarina said, catching both of their attention, "He doesn't remember us."

"Who's kidding around, Goofy? You and Donald are the ones who-" Leon stopped himself as the court wizard and guard looked at him.

"I don't get it. Something's wrong with my memory," Leon tried to convince himself as he held his head. "What's happening here?"

"I dunno Leon, Maybe Aerith was onto something afterall," a younger, more feminine voice said. From another entrance, a teenage girl with short black hair and brown eyes walked up to Leon.

"She said she sensed some uncanny kind of power," she explained. She was dressed in a tiny green top held up by blue belts, beige shorts with blue belts, beige stocking, a grey bandanna wrapped around her forehead, brown fingerless gloves, brown boots, and a yellow scarf. "Well this is as uncanny as it gets. Maybe you should take Sora, May, and Sarina to see Aerith."

"Yuffie!" May addressed her in relief. "You know our names?"

"Yep! Looks like you know mines, too," the other girl replied in a cheerful manner.

"You know them?" Leon asked his female companion.

"Nope! Total strangers, but I definitely know their names! Strange, yes, but convenient! We can skip the introductions!"

Leon sighed as he shut his eyes. "How can you accept this situation so easily? I don't get you…"

"Well, I'm gonna run ahead and fill Aerith in. Leon, you give them the grand tour. See ya later!" She waved cheerfully at the group as she walked away.

"I'm uncomfortable," May muttered.

As Leon led them through the streets, Sora and May talked amongst themselves.

"What do you think is going on with Leon?" Sora asked the older twin.

"I don't know. How can he say he doesn't know us but he knows our names?"

"Perhaps he's slowly recovering from amnesia?"

* * *

In the second district, Leon opened the door to one of the hotel rooms.

Inside was Yuffie and a pretty woman with brown hair tied down into a long plait, and striking green eyes. She wore a long pink dress with brown boots. She was Aerith Gainsborough.

"Aerith, have you forgotten us too?" Sora asked with sad eyes.

"I don't know whether to say 'nice to meet you' or 'it's good to see you again'," she answered honestly. "I don't think I know any of you, but I still feel like you belong here."

"Yeah, exactly! Like we've never met, but it still doesn't feel weird knowing your names," Yuffie said, agreeing.

"But we're telling you, we HAVE met. We took on the Heartless together. We were a team!" Sora said.

"It feels like you're right, but I can't remember…," Leon replied.

"Then I guess you can't remember what you told us. In Hollow Bastion, when I sealed the Keyhole: 'We may never meet again…'"

"...but we'll never forget each other," Leon finished for him.

"See you do remember!" Sora said.

"He's right, Leon! I remember you saying that too," Yuffie added in shock.

Leon folded his arms. "I guess I can't write it off as a coincidence, then."

Aerith spoke up. "I don't have any memory of it, but I still remember. I think your hearts are doing the remembering for us."

"Our hearts?" Sora said while placing his hand over his heart.

"What do you mean by that?" May asked.

"We don't know you, May, or Sarina, but your hearts are full of memories of us together. Those memories must resonate in our hearts, too. Maybe they tell us things we couldn't otherwise know," Aerith explained.

"So you're saying the kids' memories are affecting ours?" Leon asked the brunette.

Aerith turned towards him. "Their memories do seem to have a certain power."

"Maybe it's just like that guy said, then," Sora said, thinking of what the cloaked man said earlier, "This town is just an illusion. Something our memories created."

"But they feel real! Everything in this town feels real," May argued to her sister. Sarina held her chin in thought.

"And...there is someone important to you in this town?" Aerith asked the group softly.

Sora gasped. "But-How did you know?" He then relaxed in realization. "Ah I get it. My memories are resonating with yours, telling you what happened."

"You guys should be remembering us now," May added.

"A friend of ours is somewhere in this town-I mean, Castle Oblivion," Sora explained.

Yuffie tilted her head in confusion.

"Castle Oblivion? What's that? There aren't any castles in Traverse Town," she asked.

"That's not what I mean," Sora replied.

"The kids probably still have questions of their own, right?" Aerith inquired the group, trying to keep a cheerful opposition amidst all of the confusion.

"We do," May responded, "And the only answers to them is by looking around here."

"Then look around town. There are heartless, but that's no problem to any of you," Leon suggested.

"Damn right! We're experts at kicking heartless ass!" May boasted, shoving her fist into the palm of her other hand.

"So you know we can fight?" Sora asked with a confident grin.

Leon simply folded his arms at the claim.

"I can't say I remember, but I am starting to believe.

* * *

In the third district, a middle aged man with short blond hair was chewing a cigar. He turned around and grinned when he saw the group.

"Well, whaddaya know? It's Sora, May, and Sarina?" the man greeted with a thick country accent. He then frowned in confusion. "Wait, what am I saying? I don't know any of you damn kids." He squinted at the teens to get a closer look. "But you do look like a Sora, May, and Sarina with those big ol' keys in y'alls hand. I guess I just call 'em like I see 'em."

"Well, Cid, those are our names," May said with a teasing smile.

Cid took his cigar out of his mouth.

"So y'all heard of me? I can't say I'm surprised," Cid replied, puffing his chest out arrogantly.

"Anyway, maybe you can help us out?" Sora suggested. "A friend of mine is supposed to be in this castle-er, town," he corrected the last bit.

"Your friend, huh? Lately all there've been around this town is heartless. Can't even take two steps without gettin' attacked," Cid explained, "This plaza here's the worst."

Cid looked towards a bell tower.

"Word is we'll have a jumbo-sized heartless on our hands when that bell rings."

' _Bell ringing? Why does that sound familiar?'_ May thought to herself.

Cid turned back to the group.

"If you value your hide, you'll get out of here while the gettin's good."

Cid walked away, leaving the group to think about his warning.

"Something about this seems familiar," Sora said.

"Because it is," Sarina explained, "Here is where we fought the Guard Armor."

"The what?" May asked her twin.

"The big, knight-light heartless with the detached limbs."

May looked at her sister in confusion. "Huh?"

Sarina frowned. "You don't remember?"

"I mean, I don't remember fighting a "Guard Armor" either," Sora spoke up, rubbing his head.

"But...but that's how we all met!" Sarina exclaimed. "Donald, Goofy, remember "All for one and one for all"?"

"Um….," Donald and Goofy said together, trying to remember the event.

"Gawrsh…," Goofy said, whacking his head.

"Are you sure that this actually happened?" Donald asked with an eyebrow raise.

Sarina's eyes widened in shock. She had no idea what to say. Everyone's memories were slowly going away as the cloaked man said.

But why was she the only one to not have her memories affected?

Sarina was about to say something before a loud bell rang.

The heartless was coming.

"Sora! Look out!" Goofy shouted, and Sora rolled away just in time before a set of armor limbs fell from the sky and crashed onto the ground. The limbs, colored red, white, blue, and yellow, formed into a giant heartless resembling a statue of an armored knight. Its head rolled out of its torso and onto the top of its body.

"Rini? Is that the thing you were talking about?" May asked, summoning Sunlight.

"Yes," the younger twin replied before getting smacked by one of the heartless' gauntlets.

She skidded a few feet before retaliating with Firaga. The fire blast instantly destroyed one of the gauntlets.

"Hey! Why does she remember how to cast Firaga?" Donald questioned before getting kicked away by one of the hammer legs. "AHHAHAHAHAHA!" The court wizard shouted as he flew in the air.

"Hey you big asshole! Over here!" May shouted, hurling her keyblade at the beast's torso.

The heartless stumbled back, before all of its remaining body parts stumbled to the ground.

Sora rolled over to the heartless and started bashing various limbs. Sarina casted Curaga on her and Donald before calling upon Thundaga.

Now, both of the heartless legs were gone. The area was flooded with a minor shockwave before the heartless reassembled itself. With only one gauntlet and its torso left, the heartless used the remaining gauntlet to jab at Goofy, but the royal deflected the blow with his shield. Goofy charged and smashed the gauntlet into pieces.

The heartless used its torso to bounce around the field as its last stand.

Donald charged up his staff and shot a ball of ice at the torse, freezing it before it could slam into him. Sora jumped into the air and sliced up the heartless.

The heartless disappeared in a flash of white light, blinding everyone.

When it disappeared, Sarina was nowhere to be found...and two cards appeared in her place. One had an ice crystal on it and the other Simba from The Lion King.

May looked around frantically. "Rini?" She looked up into the air. "Rini?"  
She ran around the area, and her anxiety was at an all time high. "Rini? Where are you? RINI!"

* * *

"So your friend wasn't here?" Yuffie asked as she, Leon, Aerith, and Cid investigated the area.

Sora shook his head. He had his arm wrapped around May as she still called out for her twin numbly. "No, I don't think I'll find him in this town. But he's somewhere around this castle, I know it."

Cid chuckled in disbelief at the idea. "Castle? Like this whole town is in some humongous castle? Hoo that's rich!"

"It is!" Sora protested, putting his other hand on his hip.

"He's probably right, Cid," Leon explained, "We may not understand what's going on, but Sora and May probably does. They can see that reality is bigger than just this world."

"I wish we were that sure," Sora simply replied with an unsure look on his face.

"Rini? Rini? Rini?" May asked repeatedly, hoping the more she said it, her sister would appear. She couldn't believe it Rini just disappeared like that, and to where? Rini never liked being far from her, and while May was the more independent of the two, she didn't like leaving her sister alone, _especially_ in this creepy castle.

Sora rubbed her back soothingly. "We'll find her May, I swear."

"You kids will be alright. No matter what shape reality takes, you can handle it," Leon said, reassuringly, "I may not know either of you, but I know you in my heart."

Sora gasped. It was something Leon would say to them. "Leon!"

"Take care, guys," Yuffie said with her cheerful grin.

"I'm a little lost...but best of luck anyway!" Cid added, giving them a thumbs up.

Everyone walked away...except Aerith. She walked up to Sora, realizing something.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked her.

"I don't have any answers, but there's something the both of you should know. Your memories created this town, right?"

Sora nodded, while May just stood there. "That's what the guy who gave me the card said," Sora explained.

Aerith frowned at what she was about to say. "If that's true, then this town is just a figment of your imagination, and so are we."

That snapped May out of her trance immediately.

"What?" She asked, shocked.

"But...but you can't be a figment! You're standing right here! The town is here too!" Sora argued.

"But I'm not really me," Aerith explained, "I don't remember the things I should. I sense things I shouldn't. Sora and May, beware your surroundings. In the journey to come, you'll be faced with more illusions. Sometimes the shadows will deceive you, try to leave you astray."

"So, uh what exactly does that mean?" Sora asked. May chose to say nothing as she tried to comprehend Aerith's words.

"I'm just another illusion, Sora. The truth is out of my reach," she replied sadly.

"Don't say stuff like that! It's depressing.."

"No, Sora! You musn't let illusions distract you from what's truly important," Aerith responded with a much more cheerful tone.

"We'll be alright?" May asked, barely above a whisper.

"I don't know for sure, but I have a strong feeling you both will be."

"Okay," Sora said.

"Sora! May!" Donald called. He and Goofy were by the exit.

"You kids ready to go?" Goofy inquired.

"Yeah! Be right there!" Sora replied. He motioned May to go over to then while he said one last thing to Aerith. He then brightly smile. "Well, Aerith, I'd better be going."

He turned around and nothing was there.

"Huh? Aerith?"

"What about her?" Donald asked, confused.

"Wasn't she literally just talking to the both of us?" May added.

"Yeah! I was just talking to her, and now she's gone!" Sora exclaimed.

Donald and Goofy looked at the both of them like they were crazy.

"Aerith left with Leon and the others, remember?" Goofy said.

"But..," Sora was thoroughly confused.

"You kids were standing there, talking to yourselves. We wondered what was going on," Donald explained.

' _So this is what she meant…,'_ Sora thought glumly.

* * *

When they walked out of the Traverse Town exit, they entered the exit hall of the first floor of the castle.

The cloaked figure from before appeared from a portal of darkness.

Everyone summoned their weapons as he took a threatening stance.

"Well, Sora and May? Did you enjoy meeting your memories?" The figure asked.

"It was good to see everyone again," Sora replied, "But why show us an illusion? What do you want from us?"

"Where is my sister? Tell me where she is?" May demanded. She tried to glow as a sign she meant business, but to her frustration, she couldn't.

"Where ever your sister has gone is up to the castle to decide. I do not have the answers to that."

"Bullcrap! Why can't you give us a straight answer?"

"That depends on what you have to give," The figure said as he began to walk menacingly towards them.

"Boo," a mysterious voice said.

Everyone paused at the unknown voice.

Another portal of darkness opened up, and out stepped a tall young man wearing the same long black coat as the figure in front of them. However his hood was down, revealing a rather handsome face with a widow's peak. His eyes were an emerald green, his eyebrows were thin, and there were two purple, reverse teardrop-shaped markings under each eye.

The most notable feature of him, however, was his long, thick, and flaming red hair, slicked back in multiple spikes.

"Hello!" The young man greeted with a cheerful, yet dangerous grin.

"What do you want?" The unknown figure asked.

"I got bored, what with you hogging the heroes."

The figure stood there silently before tossing the redheaded man a card. "Then perhaps YOU'D like to test them." He then disappeared.

"Perhaps I would," the redheaded man replied. He then looked at the group with a taunting smirk on his face. "Looks like it's my show now, keyblade masters. Who am I? My name's Axel, got it memorized?" He introduced.

"Uh...sure," Sora replied awkwardly.

"Committed to my memory," May added dryly.

"Good, you're both quick learners," Axel said. While still smiling, his face took on a more sinister look. "So now that we're all getting to know each other better…"

Axel held out both of his arms, and with a burst of fire, summoned two big red and silver chakrams in each other hand.

"Don't you kids go and die on me now!"


	2. Riku and Rini I

**Castle Oblivion 1st Basement Floor**

* * *

Riku, a boy of fifteen floated in a grey abyss. His hair was long and silver, and he was dressed in a yellow-and-black tank top and dark blue pants.

As he slowly opened his teal eyes, he looked around his surroundings.

"Where am I?" He asked.

"Stay asleep," a deep voice suddenly spoke to him. Riku's eyes widened and he flipped upwards.

"Who's there?"

"You should remain asleep. Here, between light and dark."

"Between...what?" Riku asked in confusion. Then he realized that he wasn't supposed to be alone.

"The King! Where's the King? Together we closed the door to darkness. After that-"

"You came drifting here by yourself," the voice explained, "You did not have the strength to overcome the darkness...or maybe you were close to it."

Riku snorted. "Hmph, as if I'm some kind of demon."

"Turn from the light. Shut your eyes. Here, blanketed by the darkness, sleep is safety. Sleep is eternal. But…"

A blue card floated down towards Riku.

"What's this?" He asked as he observed the card cautiously.

"It is a door to the truth. Take it and your sleep ends, as you take the first steps towards the truth. But know this: the truth will bring you pain. Will you still go?"

As the card floated in front of Riku's face, he nodded.

"There is no return to the security of sleep."

Riku smirked. "This seemed like a boring place to take a nap anyway."

"Very well said, Riku."

A bright light clouded his vision, causing him to shut his eyes.

When he reopened them, he saw that he was in a white room. A large yellow door stood on white steps on the other side of the room.

"A door to the truth, huh?" he said as he looked at the card.

The world of Hollow Bastion appeared on the front of the card.

Riku was already not pleased with the situation, and he hadn't even gone through the door yet. Hollow Bastion was his prison as he was manipulated into being Ansem and Maleficent's pawns. It was the centerpiece of his betrayal to his island, family, and best friends. It was his low point, where darkness took over him.

Begrudgingly, Riku walked up the steps and held the card up to the door. It opened widely, and flash of light blinded him again.

* * *

Riku looked around his surroundings...and indeed he was in Hollow Bastion.

He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Boy did he hate this place.

"What you see is not real. It's the world of your memory," the voice said.

"What? My memory?"

"The things you remember from your time at Maleficent's castle became a card, and that card made this world. You've seen everything here before, haven't you?"

"Yeah…So what now? Am I going to learn something? Maybe meet someone?" Riku questioned, curious yet unsure.

"You would meet the people in your memories. Ordinarily."

"What does that mean?"

The voice didn't answer him.

"Hey! I'm asking you a question!"

It still didn't answer him.

"Fine," Riku said, sighing. He was just going to have to figure this out on his own. "But it better be you I come across next, Voice."

* * *

He entered the top floor of the Library, where he used to sleep.

"Everything is just how I remember it, even this room," he stated.

"It must be nice being back in your old bedroom, Think of all the memories…," the voice spoke.

"Sorry, I could do without these memories," Riku replied. He hated this room the most. "Maleficent gave this room." And it was always cold and lifeless.

"So she did. And you lived here, tempted by the darkness she offered. You cast away your room, your friends, your everything...But hey, at least they gave you this nice room."

Riku frowned deeply. That was _extremely_ shady. And this was NOT a nice room. He barely slept at times due to the very stiff bed. That, and the late nights thinking about whether allying with darkness was worth it all.

"Stop talking!" Riku shouted as he ran out of the room.

* * *

Riku looked around in the ballroom. "No one here either…There's nothing but heartless in this castle." And the heartless weren't any nicer, though perhaps that was the only thing consistent so far.

He ran down the steps, calling for the Voice. "Voice! I know you're watching so explain this! Where are the people from my memories?"

"Do you want to see them?" The voice answered.

"Of course I do!"

"But you cast them aside…"

"What?"

"You dreamt of the outside world and you passed through the door to darkness. Behind you, you left family, friends, home, everything...in pursuit of darkness."

"But I cast that aside too!" Riku argued.

"And what do you have to show for it? First your home, then the dark. Your heart only knows how to cast away. It's empty like that room. Like your memories, that's why you won't meet anyone. Your heart is hollow, except for the residual darkness."

"You're wrong! I rejected the darkness!" Riku protested loudly. He didn't want to believe that his heart was hollow. He came back from the darkness and helped King Mickey close the Door To Darkness. He may have fallen, but he came back up when it came down to allying the darkness or protecting his friends!

Darkness was no longer apart of him, he refused to believe otherwise.

The voice chuckled loudly. "Did you really, now?"

"I did! I'll prove it to you!" Riku shouted as he ran out of the hall.

* * *

When he entered the Castle Chapel, he was greeted by a most unwelcome sight.

Maleficent grinned evilly as she looked him up and down.

"I knew you would return Riku," she purred.

Riku gaped at her in shock. "You're alive? But how?"

"You haven't been paying attention. I am but a figment of your memory," the fairy witch explained with a smirk.

Riku growled. "Of ALL the people I could run into, it had to be you."

Maleficent was a starch reminder of how far he gone to save Kairi, and how he betrayed all of his loved ones to darkness. The fairy witch had seduced him with her lies. She had played into all of his insecurities with Sora, and he fell for it like a fool.

"But of course. After all, your heart is seeped in darkness," she stated, "You can only see those who exist in darkness."

"No!" Riku shouted. "I'm past the darkness, and I'm especially past YOU!"

Maleficent dropped her smirk and glared at him.

"Be grateful you have someone to keep you company. Your heart is empty. Were it not for the darkness it contains, you would be completely alone," she sneered.

"That's sounding pretty good right about now!" Riku barked.

Maleficent rolled her eyes. "Come, now. You onced turned to me to sate your hunger for the darkness. You _want_ me here. Who but I can grant you the darkness you long for?"

Riku shook his head in denial. "There was a time I did wanted you around. I surrendered my heart to the dark. _But never again._ You and your darkness have nothing to offer!"

Riku walked past her. "All I did was lose myself! Empty myself! I'm finished with that," he continued, "If I'm stuck seeing people like you, people of the dark…"

Riku turned around to face Maleficent again, with his fists balled at his sides.

"I'll take you all out, one by one!"

The evil fairy did not say anything for a moment. Then she walked forward towards the other direction. She smirked again, this time even more cruelly than the last.

"Then you mustn't forget to destroy yourself last," she said spitefully, "For, like me, you are of the dark."

"That's fine with me. I turned to darkness because my heart was weak. I hate that weakness. It's like I'm my own enemy," Riku explained, "And seeing people like you embrace the darkness just makes it worse! Enough talk, Maleficent!" He summoned his sword, Soul Eater, out of a puff of darkness. He held it out at Maleficent threateningly.

Maleficent chuckled deeply.

"So you hate the darkness enough to fight it. Oh the agony you must feel!"

Dark tendrils snaked around her as she began to glow green.

"Then let me end your pain, Riku. I'll end it forever...with the wondrous power of darkness!"

The ground began to shake as a pillar of green fire shot down from the sky and covered the evil fairy. Maleficent cackled as she grew bigger and bigger, her face burning away to a reptilian one, her claws growing longer and sharper, and her form completely shifting away to its true nature.

For Maleficent was not just a fairy witch, but a giant dragon as well.

The dragon roared menacingly but Riku was not frightened.

The first thing he did was charge at the dragon and slash at its chest. The dragon howled in pain before smacking him away with its long tail. Riku bounced back immediately in the air before landing gracefully on the ground.

"Is that all you got?" He taunted. The dragon responded by launching a green fireball at him, only for him to block the blow with Soul Eater. "I guess not."

The dragon roared again before attempting to clamp down on him with its jaw, but Riku rolled away before casting Firaga at its face.

The dragon howled in pain before slamming Riku back with a large shockwave. The impact was felt harshly as Riku was slammed into a wall. He winced as he held his arm in pain. However, he had no time to think on it any further as he dodged a stream of fire directed at him by the dragon.

A black card floated downwards from the sky. Riku caught it as it landed on his hand, and a green silhouette of King Mickey appeared on the front.

"A card? What does it do?"

The green glowed a bright green and Riku suddenly found himself on top of a floating platform.

"Oh, that's what it does," he simply commented. He looked at the dragon and smirked again.

Using the platform, he flew the dragon and unleashed a series of slashes at its face, with the dragon knocking back each one.

It tried to blast Riku with fire, but he blocked it with his sword. Taking advantage of the dragon's confusion, he slashed its throat brutally with one strike.

The dragon exploded in a green burst of fire, and there was left was a black card with its face on it….and one of Sora's pals. One of the sisters to be exact.

"Huh?" Riku asked as he walked over to her unconcious frame. She was the slightly lighter skinned one, and the quieter one compared to her more boisterous twin.

Her name was Rini, he believed.

She stirred awake, lifting her upper body up. She opened her eyes up and looked around her surroundings.

"Where am...where am I?" She asked softly. When she noticed Riku, Sarina jumped up quickly. "You! You're Sora's best friend!"

"I am, though I haven't been much of best friend lately," he replied bitterly. "You're Rini, right?"

She looked down to the floor shyly.

"That's my nickname. My actual name is Sarina, but you can call me Rini if you'd like. Everyone else does that anyway."

"Rini," he repeated, tasting the name on his lips. He took a step towards her, and she instinctively took a step back. She was never good at talking to others, especially boys.

"Hey, I'm not going to bite, at least not anymore," he joked. "How'd you get here anyway?"

"I don't know. I was battling the Guard Armor in Traverse Town with my sister and the others, but everything went white the second the battle was over! I don't know what happened! I don't know if May's alright or-"

"Traverse Town? In here?" Riku cut her off in bewilderment.

"I think it was a figment of all of our memories. The cloaked man said that we will encounter those from our memories but I don't really trust him because he seems very suspicious. He said something about "to find is to lose and to lose is to find". I have a bad feeling about him and I wish we didn't enter this castle but Sora thought it would lead us to you and the King," she explained. Then something clicked inside of her head, and so did Riku's.

"Wait, Sora's in this castle?" He asked. She nodded.

"Yes, do you know where the King is?"

"No," he answered regrettably, "That's what I'm trying to find out."

Rini looked up towards the sky. "This is Hollow Bastion, isn't it? We fought Maleficent in her dragon form here. If it wasn't for May, she would have killed us all."

Riku snorted. "Then this must have been a pretty weak memory of her because I kicked her ass."

Rini frowned. "You? But you were her right hand man, or did she manipulate you? Did she? I'm sorry I can be-"

"I was nothing more than her pawn," Riku finished for her bitterly, "Her toy, her and her cronies little tool to gather the princesses of heart. But she was a pawn too, to Ansem. He was using her for his ultimate plan, and I almost fell for it completely." He balled his fist up in anger at himself. He then relaxed himself.

"You're different now, right? You held sealed the Door To Darkness with King Mickey," Rini stated.

"I want to be different. I'm _trying_ to be different," he said. "Come with me."

Rini looked at him, startled. "What?"

"We want to look for our friends, right? I don't see why we can't do it together," he sighed when she wouldn't budge, "I said earlier I won't bite. You can defend yourself, right? I don't want to be carrying any dead weight around."

She nodded, albeit still unsure of his motives. "I can, I'll go with you."

He smiled. "Alright then, let's go."

* * *

They entered the exit hall of the first basement floor.

"Why do you shun the darkness, Riku?" The voice said.

The two teens froze.

"Where is that voice coming from?" Rini questioned fearfully.

"I don't know. It's been following me for awhile," Riku answered. He then rolled his eyes at the question the voice gave him.

"Didn't you hear what I said to Maleficent? I know you've hear every word."

"Darkness is your weapon. It is time for you to accept it."

"What do you mean?"

"Stop resisting. Accept the darkness. You have no other choice…"

A dark portal opened and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness appeared.

"...If you are to serve me again!"

* * *

A/N: Ruh roh. Ansem, Seeker of Darkness may not be "dead" after all, or is he? Nonetheless here is another cliffhanger! Just to throw this out there, Riku and Rini's partnership won't be anything more than platonic.

Sorry about the late update as finals week took over my life for two weeks.


	3. Sora and May II

**Castle Oblivion Second Floor: "Just Our Surprise"**

* * *

 _When they walked out of the Traverse Town exit, they entered the second floor of the castle._

 _The cloaked figure from before appeared from a portal of darkness._

 _Everyone summoned their weapons as he took a threatening stance._

" _Well, Sora and May? Did you enjoy meeting your memories?" The figure asked._

" _It was good to see everyone again," Sora replied, "But why show us an illusion? What do you want from us?"_

" _Where is my sister? Tell me where she is?" May demanded. She tried to glow as a sign she meant business, but to her frustration, she couldn't._

" _Where ever your sister has gone is up to the castle to decide. I do not have the answers to that."_

" _Bullcrap! Why can't you give us a straight answer?"_

" _That depends on what you have to give," The figure said as he began to walk menacingly towards them._

" _Boo."_

 _Everyone paused at the unknown voice._

 _Another portal of darkness opened up, and out stepped a tall young man wearing the same long black coat as the figure in front of them. However his hood was down, revealing a rather handsome face with a widow's peak. His eyes were an emerald green, his eyebrows were thin, and there were two purple, reverse teardrop-shaped markings under each eye._

 _The most notable feature of him, however, was his long, thick, and flaming red hair, slicked back in multiple spikes._

" _Hello!" The young man greeted with a cheerful, yet dangerous grin._

" _What do you want?" The unknown figure asked._

" _I got bored, what with you hogging the heroes."_

 _The figure stood there silently before tossing the redheaded man a card. "Then perhaps YOU'D like to test them." He then disappeared._

" _Perhaps I would," the redheaded man replied. He then looked at the group with a taunting smirk on his face. "Looks like it's my show now, keyblade masters. Who am I? My name's Axel, got it memorized?" He introduced._

" _Uh...sure," Sora replied awkwardly._

" _Committed to my memory," May added dryly._

" _Good, you're both quick learners," Axel said. While still smiling, his face took on a more sinister look. "So now that we're all getting to know each other better…"_

 _Axel held out both of his arms, and with a burst of fire, summoned two big red and silver chakrams in each other hand._

" _Don't you kids go and die on me now!"_

* * *

"What? What the hell?" May yelled out in shock as Axel charged at her and Sora.

May rolled out of the way just in time, but the left side of her vest of was torn. "Hey! My Daddy payed forty four bucks for that!" She exclaimed, waving her fist threateningly.

"If only I could give him my apologies," Axel commented dryly. He swung at her with one of his chakrams, only for May to block the blow. She countered, by slamming the teeth of her keyblade into his face.

Axel stumbled back and smirked, wiping blood off of his jaw. "Excellent job, Princess." He turned around and launched a fireball at Sora, blowing the brunet back.

Sora winced as he rubbed his now burned arm. "Ow." He paled at two oncoming disks of fire coming at him.

"Sora!" May called as her keyblade suddenly turned cold in her hands. Without thought, she pointed her keyblade at the disks and suddenly two ice balls shot from her blade and froze the disks. They fell onto the ground and shattered into a million pieces.

"What? I can shoot ice? That's awesome!" May cheered, bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Then I can too!" Sora replied with as much cheer in her voice.

"Do you think we should jump in?" Goofy asked Donald. The court wizard shrugged.

"I dunno, they seem to be handling this pretty well."

"BURN BABY!" Axel shouted as he summoned a wall of fire at the royal knights.

"AAAAAAH!" Donald shrieked at he quickly deflected the blow with a barrier surrounding himself and Goofy. Axel didn't even flinch when he was hit with his own attack. He actually felt rejuvenated.

Sora charged at him and slashed at him multiple times. Axel elegantly dodged each one, and teleported behind him.

"What?" Sora asked.

Axel teleported again, this time in front of May.

"You can teleport? What are you, a horror movie slasher or something?" May asked irritably as she blocked one of his blows.

"Maybe, maybe not," the redhead teasingly replied.

May's keyblade turned cold again and she slashed Axel's side, causing him to flinch. He clutched his side, seemingly in pain.

"Y'know? You kids might be a good time after all," Axel stated ominously as he disappeared with a smirk. A card with a burst of flame on the covered appeared in his place, along with six world cards.

Jiminy Cricket jumped out of Sora's hoodie. He observed the world cards picked up by Sora.

"Hmm, they look kind of like the card that made Traverse Town," he stated. Sora rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Correct," Axel said as he appeared again.

"Axel!" Donald shouted as he jumped in Goofy's arms in fear.

"What are you doing back here?" May asked, somewhat curiously.

"After an introduction like that, you think I'd just give up the ghost act?" He explained with a teasing smirk.

"So you were just testing our strength," Sora said with a frown. He knew that May didn't hurt him that much. If that was him holding back, then what was Axel like at full power?

Axel clapped his hands slowly, as if mocking them all. "Congratulations kids! You passed! You're ready to take on Castle Oblivion! Follow your memories. Trust what you remember, seek what you forget...and you will find someone very special."

"You mean Riku, and the King?" Goofy asked.

"And Sarina?" May added.

Axel shrugged. "Well, I don't know. You would just to give more thought to who's more important to you," he explained, "Our most precious memories lie deep within our hearts, out of reach. But you find yours, Sora and May."

"Where? How?" Sora asked.

"The light within the darkness. You've lost sight of it. You've forgotten forgetting."

May blinked in confusion. "What..the...hell...are...you...talking...about?" She questioned slowly, emphasizing each word.

"What do you mean by losing sight of our light?" Sora said, scratching his head.

Axel held his hand out in invitation. "Would you two like a hint?"

May and Sora looked at each other, silently communicating with one another. Then, they both nodded.

"No, we want to figure it out for ourselves," Sora stated.

"And we don't trust you or that other guy," May added bluntly.

They summoned both of their weapons.

"If you get in our way…," Sora threatened as he took a fighting stance.

"He won't! We won't let him!" Donald exclaimed, jumping up and down.

Axel's smirk grew even wider if that was possible.

"That's my kind of answer. Just what I expected from the keyblade masters. But be forewarned...when your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be you..."

Axel disappeared again, leaving the group to ponder the meaning of his words.

* * *

When they reached the second floor, Jiminy hopped out of Sora's hoodie.

"Hmm," he thought aloud, frowning.

"Something wrong, Jiminy?" Sora asked in a worried voice.

"You seemed bothered," May added.

"What Axel said has been bothering me," the cricket explained, "What could he have meant by 'You may no longer be you'?"

"He's probably screwing with us. Wouldn't be surprising," May replied nonchalantly.

"Yeah! I mean come on, Jiminy! How can we be anyone but ourselves?" Sora stated confidently.

"I know, I know. Still, it always pays to be careful," Jiminy warned.

"Yeah," Goofy said, "Just about anything could happen here in Castle Oblibbity...uh…Oblostemy…"

"Oblivion!" Donald barked in annoyance.

"Right, what you said," Goofy replied cheerfully.

"Well we can take down whatever they throw at us. We defeated Ansem, Maleficent, and her merry band of villains," May boasted.

"We'll be fine. Whatever they got cooking up, we can handle it!" Sora exclaimed, folding his arm in a confident manner.

"Hey, remember that other castle we all explored together? The one with all the contraptions?" Goofy asked.

Everyone looked at him in confusion.

"When did we explore a castle?" May asked him, tilting her head.

"Contraptions? I don't remember any castle like that? What was it called?" Donald added.

Goofy rubbed his chin, trying to think of the answer. "Gawrsh, what was it called? Holla...Holler…I forget."

"Oh for Pete's sake!" Donald exclaimed while rolling his eyes.

"You sure you didn't make that up?" Sora teased.

"I don't think so…"

"Well maybe you'll remember after we go through the second floor," May suggested, pointing towards the door.

Sora pulled out one of the world cards.

It had an image of a castle on top of a red and pink checkered field on top. A hedge shaped like a heart also was visible, along with a cottage and soldiers shaped like cards.

"Is that Wonderland?" May inquired, taking a closer look at it.

"Wonderland? What's that?" Sora asked in curiosity.

"It's this weird ass place where everything is bizarre and everyone is mentally deranged, especially the Queen of Hearts, who is a fat tyrant who gets off on ordering beheadings," May explained.

"Doesn't sound like a nice place," Donald said.

"Yeah, I saw this place in a movie I watched as a kid. Never did like _Alice In Wonderland_ …"

"Well, we have no choice but to go," Sora stated as he walked up the steps to the door. Just like with the Traverse Town card, he held it up to the door, and a white light enveloped him as the door opened.

The group followed him as they all walked through the door.

* * *

They appeared in a forest with giant mushrooms, lily pads, and lotuses.

"Hey, someone's comin'," Goofy said as The White Rabbit ran up to them.

"I'm late! I'm dreadfully late!" He exclaimed while frantically hopping up and down. "The Queen will roast me for dinner! If I'm late for my trial, it'll be off with MY head next!"

"What do you mean 'Off with my head'?" Sora asked in worry, but the White Rabbit continued to ramble.

"Of my furs and whiskers! I'll never make it!"

He ran off in a hurry.

"Off with his HEAD?" Sora asked again. He looked at May. "Is he talking about that 'Queen of Hearts' lady?"

May nodded. "Yup, sounds just like the cow."

"For such a peaceful looking world, it sounds pretty dangerous!" Donald commented.

"Wonderland looks like what you see after a night of binging acid," May dryly replied.

* * *

They entered the Queen's Court, an outdoor courtroom located in the center of a hedge maze.

The Queen of Hearts, a frumpy and obese woman, sat primly in her throne as her loyal card soldiers stood on both sides of her. The White Rabbit stood behind a tall stand.

A little girl with long blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin stood in front of the court. She wore a black headband, a light blue dress, white stockings, and black mary janes.

"Gawrsh, looks like some kind of get-together. What's the occasion?" Goofy asked.

"Hey, this must be that trial the White Rabbit was talking about!" Donald said, before May elbowed him to keep quiet.

"Alice, do you understand the charges brought against you?" The White Rabbit asked the girl, who had an indignant look on her face.

"Of course not! I did nothing wrong!" Alice shouted, slamming her fist down on the pulpit.

"Feigning ignorance, dear?" The Queen of Hearts asked, with a hint of sadistic glee. "You are charged with aiding the heartless who threaten this kingdom!"

"Fiddlesticks! Where's the evidence?" Alice argued.

"The evidence is...I forgot! That's the evidence!" The Queen replied.

' _Bitch what?'_ May thought, incredulous at the accusation.

"Because you, Alice, is the one who stole my memory!"

"But...but...how?" Sora trailed off.

"Didn't I tell you guys how freaking insane everyone in this place is? How the hell can you steal another person's memory?" May whispered.

"We can't rid the kingdom of heartless until Her Majesty gets her memory back," The White Rabbit stated, "This is a serious crime!"

"This is so unfair!" Alice exclaimed, "So what if you're a queen! Don't blame me just because you can't remember things!"

The Queen's face turned red in rage. "Such insolence! You're talking to the Queen of Hearts! And I'd have let you go had you apologized you brazen thief!"

Sora had enough.

"Who's the brazen one?" He barked, bringing everyone's attention to the group. He ran up to Alice.

May facepalmed. ' _Dammit, Sora! Always rushing into situations without thinking!'_

The Queen glared at him. "The court has reached a verdict! The sentence is death!" The card soldiers moved to grab Alice, who blanched in fear.

"Hold it!" Sora commanded as the rest of the group joined him. "This trial is a farce! You should investigate before you arrest innocent people!"

The Queen balked at the suggestion. "What is the meaning of this? Are you saying Alice did not steal my memory? I suppose you know the real culprit then!"

"Huh? I...er.," Sora stammered, not knowing what to say.

"Speak! Or Alice's sentence will be carried out! Now out with it! Who's the thief?"

"Um...uh," He continued to sputter out. Then he thought of something.

"I'm the thief!"

Multiple whispers were heard throughout the court.

"Say that again?" The Queen requested in shock.

"Gawrsh, really?" Goofy asked.

"Um no, since he's been with us all this time," May replied. She looked at Sora wearily. "What are you doing? Are you trying to get us all killed?"

"What else am I supposed to say?" Sora said to her.

"Cards, seize them all!" The Queen roared as the soldiers charged at them with their weapons.

Sora summoned Kingdom Key and promptly sliced one Card Soldier in half as it swiped at him. He casted Fire on another one as it tried to sneak up on him. While running frantically around on fire, it accidentally ran into another Card Soldier, setting them both on fire. After a few seconds, they were nothing more than piles of ash.

"Blizzard!" May shouted as she encased three card soldier in ice at once. Goofy charged forward and shattered them all with his shield.

Donald shot fireballs from his staff, disintegrating the rest of them.

"Whew," Sora said as he wiped sweat from his forehead.

"They really are just as paper cards," May remarked.

Donald looked around for Alice, but she was nowhere to be found. "Hey! Where's Alice?"

"Looks like she escaped," Goofy replied casually.

"That would be the smart thing to do," May mused. "Though, I am concerned what dangers a girl young as her can get into by herself. Wonderland is _not_ a nice place for anyone that isn't crazy."

"Perhaps she did, but YOU won't!" The Queen roared, now **extremely** red in the face. More Card Soldiers spawned from behind her throne.

"Looks like we've been trumped!" Donald exclaimed in shock.

"Run!" Sora shouted as he grabbed May by the arm, who was ready for another round of fighting. May protested loudly as the group ran back into the Lotus Forest.

* * *

Alice was standing in a clearing somewhere when the group caught up to her.

"Things got a little crazy back there but at least you're okay," Sora said cheerfully.

"Though can you at least warn us a little before running off like that?" May requested.

Alice looked at the group with a hint of untrust. "I don't mean to be ungrateful, but is it true what you said back there? Are you the thief?"

"What? Of course not! Why would I steal her memory?" Sora replied.

"I dunno Babyface, I would also be suspicious of a kid in big baggy pants, spiky hair, and abnormally large sneakers," May said cheekily, earning a glare from him.

"Sora only said that because he wanted to save-," Goofy started.

"To show off!" Donald finished with a huff.

"Hey! Why are all of you ganging up on me!" Sora angrily said with steam blowing out of his ears.

Alice chuckled at the scene. "Is that right? Well you saved me all the same. Thank you, Sora."

She suddenly gasped when she saw someone familiar on a large tree. "It's the Cheshire Cat!"

A fat, purple and pink cat was sporting a large, somewhat sinister grin.

"Feeling better after that mad dash? You're not out of the woods yet!" The Cheshire Cat warned, albeit with the same cheery grin. It disappeared and reappeared on another tree.

"That cat is creeping me out," Sora whispered to May.

"The Queen's a stickler for justice! She won't forget you till she remembers!" The cat explained. "She won't stop hounding you till you get her memory back! Did she forget because she remembers? Does she remember because she forgets? Doesn't matter, I suppose."

Sora shrugged. "I don't know...I think we oughta just stay away from her."

"That's all well and good Sora, but what about Alice?" Jiminy asked. "If the queen catches her it's off with her...well, you know?"

"Then I guess we'd better do something about the queen," Sora replied.

"You should do something, but you don't have to do anything," The cat said.

"Huh?" Sora asked in confusion while May rubbed her temples in frustration. ' _Just like in the movie, this troll ass cat is going to screw us all over,'_ she thought grimly.

The Cheshire Cat disappeared again, and reappeared on yet another tree.

"If you can't **remember** something, it's like it **never** happened," the cat said, "Likewise, if something **never** happened, you can't **remember** it. Try too hard to remember, and **your memory might lie to you**."

' _Y'know, he's actually making sense. But why do I have a feeling there's more behind that statement then what there's supposed to be?'_ May thought to herself again.

"Lie?" Sora questioned, growing more confused at the Cheshire Cat's words by the second.

The Cheshire Cat started to disappear again "That's all I'll say. The rest is for you to figure out," its voice said.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Sora wondered aloud.

"Because something bad is about to happen. That cat is devious," May responded.

* * *

The next room they entered was the Bizarre Room, where everything seemed disproportionately large in comparison to their size. The most noticeable thing in the room was a giant white table and chair in the center of the room.

"Gawrsh, what's with the change in scenery?" Goofy asked.

"Let's look around," Alice suggested as she ran forward. "Oh dear!" She suddenly exclaimed.

The Queen of Hearts entered from the other side of the room, with her card soldiers in tow.

"Thought you'd seen the last of me, didn't you?" The Queen remarked with a sneer.

"Uh oh," Sora muttered.

"Game's up, scoundrels! For stealing my memory I sentence you to-"

A white flash occured.

"-I sentence you to...I sentence...Oh? What's going on? Where am I?" The Queen asked while looking around frantically.

"Huh?" Donald asked in return.

"What in the world am I doing?" The Queen wondered. "Confound it, I can't remember!"

"What the hell is going on with her?" Sora whispered to May.

"I don't know but this must be a godsend!" May replied.

"Maybe someone swiped her memory again?" Goofy suggested.

"Sora, May! Watch out, something's coming!" Alice exclaimed while running towards them.

What was behind them was a bizarre looking Heartless with spindly legs resembling scissor jacks, arms that appear and sound like they were made of paper, and a head that seemed to be made up of several segments balanced on top of each other. Each of these segments sported its own face, with all of the faces have the same glowing yellow eyes and jagged mouths—and they alternated in color from magenta to lavender. Its arms were steel blue in color and it was juggling clubs with zig-zagging, black and white stripes on them. It wore lavender armor with large, magenta shoulder pads, a lavender codpiece, and had a very thin and small magenta body. The upper halves of its legs were also magenta, while their lower halves were lavender. Its feet were a greenish yellow, flat, and curled at the tips.

"So this is the thing that stole the Queen's memory!" Sora realized as he summoned Kingdom Key. "Alice, find somewhere safe!"

The girl ran into the giant chimney, crouching in fear.

"Destroy that thing!" The Queen ordered to her knights.

They all charged at the giant heartless at once, chanting "For The Queen!". Unfortunately they were no match for the heartless as it burned them all to ash with one stream of fire.

"Maybe it's time for you to get some new soldiers," Sora remarked, causing the Queen to scowl at him.

The Heartless danced around the room cheerily, as if mocking the Queen for her incompetent soldiers.

"Let's get him!" May said as she charged at the heartless with her keyblade. She swiped at the heartless' foot, slicing it off. The heartless grabbed its amputated leg as it hopped up and down in pain. It slammed her away with its arm when she tried to slice the other one off too.

May flipped in the air and landed gracefully on the ground. She pulled a potion from out of her pocket and drank it, only to gag at the taste.

"Gah! These things still taste like crap! Why did I expect anything else?" She asked herself, still coughing in disgust. May then rolled out of the way when the heartless tried to give her a viscous, flaming kick. "Hey! Watch it!"

"Blizzard!" Sora shouted as his keyblade shot forth a ice ball at the Heartless' back. The heartless flinched before turning around and hurling one of its club at him in retaliation...Only for Goofy's shield to smack it out of the way.

When the shield ended back up in his hands, Goofy hurled his shield at the heartless again, only this time Donald aided him by causing it to light on fire, making a burning disc. The heartless was hit again as it clutched its chest.

It kneeled on one knee, which was the perfect opportunity for May. She leaped onto the chair, then the table, and rammed her keyblade into its head.

The heartless disappeared in a burst of darkness, and a heartless floated into the air.

The Queen marched towards them along with some newly spawned Card Soldiers. May tightened the grip on her keyblade, ready to give The Queen Of Hearts a royal smack in the face if she tried to get them executed.

"You there! All of you! What is the meaning of this? Where did that creature come from?" She interrogated.

"How would WE know?" Sora replied in annoyance.

The Queen humphed in indignation. "So you refuse to answer? You're hiding something!" She accused.

"Hiding what? Do we look like we have the capability to steal memories? Are you dumb? And for that matter, does Alice look like she knows to how to steal memories? She's only ten years old for crying out loud! Maybe the heartless was a reflection of your obnoxious, vile attitude you dumbass cow!" May replied irritably.

"Oh brother," Donald commented, face palming at May's smart mouth. Her and Sora were going to be in trouble someday if they didn't learn to respect royalty.

The comment made the Queen bristle in rage. "QUIET YOU DISRESPECTFUL LITTLE HARLOT! I'LL HAVE YOUR HEAD FIRST! GUARDS SEIZE THEM ALL!"

The Card Soldiers got in position to fight, albeit reluctantly because the group's skill with fire skills.

"You ready for Round 2? We're about to embarrass them again," May boasted to Sora, twirling her keyblade around in her hand.

Sora smirked. "Of course! These guys are about to become another pile of ashes!"

Alice ran in front of the group, holding her arms out protectively.

"Please your majesty, wait!" She pleaded, causing everyone to pause to hear what she was about to say, "It was you who commanded us to destroy those heartless!"

Sora looked at her in confusion. "Huh? But-Ow!" He exclaimed when May pinched him to keep quiet.

"Your Majesty, in her prudence, didn't completely trust us at first," Alice explained, "And so, at Your Majesty's command, we fought them to prove to ourselves. Isn't that right, Sora and May?"

"Yup! That was the plan Your Majesty!" May agreed quickly before the guys could screw it up.

The Queen tried to remember if she did that. "I...told you...to do that?" She asked, uncertain.

"But Your Majesty, don't you remember?" Alice asked innocently in return.

"Don't be ridiculous! I never forget anything!" The Queen barked, making everyone else sweat drop.

"Either her memory really is bad, she's easy to manipulate, or she's dumb as hell," Sora commented dryly to May.

"How about all three?" She replied in turn.

"Of course I gave the command. You all did splendidly," The Queen commended. She turned around and marched back to her courtroom, with her ever loyal soldiers following her.

Alice let out a sigh of relief. It was all finally over. "Well, that was close," she said.

Sora walked up to her with a grin. "Way to improvise! I never would have thought of that."

"Gee, I wonder why?" May asked with a cheeky grin. Sora glared at her.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think, Professor?"

"Remember what the Cheshire Cat said?" Alice asked loudly, snapping their attention back on to her before they can start arguing. "Try too hard to remember and your **memory might lie to you**. The Queen would never admit she forgot. So instead she remembered something….that didn't happen! She ended up fooling herself."

Sora thought about what she said. While it was funny how the Queen was so gullible enough to fall for Alice's trick, something about the statement felt...weird...like it was trying to tell him something.

"Sora? What's wrong?" Alice asked him.

Sora shook his head. "Hm? Nothing," he replied. "Well I guess you'll be safe now."

"And The Queen won't be giving us anymore trouble," Goofy added, "After all, we got rid of the heartless, just like she commanded!"

"Don't tell me you been fooled too!" Donald barked, hopping up and down while everyone else laughed.

* * *

They exited the second floor after everything else was done in Wonderland.

"Y'know, I felt like I had a weird connection with Alice, as if we were destined to meet or something," May said as they walked towards the steps to the third floor.

"Was it because she's another girl?" Sora asked, and she shook her head.

"No. In that case, I would feel a connection with every girl at school, and trust me when I say a lot of girls wouldn't want that," She answered. While she wouldn't say she was unpopular at school, she was more close with the boys in her class than the girls.

Goofy stopped walked, looking down at the floor curiously as he tried to think.

"What's the matter?" Donald asked his best friend.

"It's that creepy castle that I was talking about earlier. I know I didn't imagine it. 'Cause that was the castle where Sora had to use his keyblade to free Kairi's heart! Then he just disappeared and I was so worried! How could I ever forget that?"

"Wait a minute...that's when I was kidnapped by Riku and discovered I was a princess of heart!" May realized.

"I turned into a heartless after I freed Kairi," Sora remembered, "Wait...That happened in a castle?"

Donald shook his head at Sora. "Aww, you forgot that? 'Cause I remember perfectly."

"Oh yeah? Then what's the name of the castle, Donald?" May asked.

"That's easy! It was...Jiminy, help me. Is it in your journal?"

"Every word," Jiminy answered from Sora's shoulder, "I finished the first volume right before we got to this castle," He fished around for his journal, "Now if I could just find it...Oh here we go!"

Jiminy hopped onto the floor. "Alright, now let's have a look!" He opened the book and gasped. "What? How could it be?"

"What's the matter?" Goofy asked in concern.

"All of my entries! They're gone!"

Jiminy searched his journal, scrambling to find a page with words on it, and found not a single filled up page to his horror. "Every page is blank!"

"Oh then we're screwed," May said in worry.

"How this have happened? I'm so careful with my journals!" Jiminy cried. He then began to sob. "All that hard work is gone!"

Sora and May were getting more suspicious of the castle by the minute.

"Even Jiminy's journal is blank? What is going on?" Sora questioned, mostly to himself.

"This is getting really freakin' weird, Babyface. This is going to get worse the more we travel through this castle," May expressed in fear.

It was only the beginning of their memories being lost….

* * *

A/N: Trickmaster is always going to be a short fight because the time I beat it was the length of the paragraphs used to describe the fight lol.

Riku's version of the Trickmaster battle was a lot more diffucult for me however due the low level cards the game forced you to have.


End file.
